, 1887-01-21


-
81 oot nv star, in hrs,ness hv heIniuy a
smng,Ier T., save tho goods no ,vos irving
To- smngole and I don,t think I did any
,vr,ng ~ A. ;, satd a I'll, LnrdIor ~ M
CITY Ia n groun az sea rantains who Ind
ass.mbled in the snn0 little Office of his
,ycll stocked store one ofternoon recently
The surprise which this announcement had
nrovoked oave nlace to expressions Of
euriositv on the mart of the assembled cnp-
Trims and the chnndler nroceedcd IN OK
plain his innocent connection with the
srnuo1lIno Industry
oWhen I vas nbout 10 vears old - said
the chandler II went to sen shipped as
cook ON nm American bark which finally
lnndad mo In Ifvernool where was nni1
on After / cot rid ~ my wages I leaked
about for another shin. / found "A berth
as cook ON an American bark of 600 tons
which was hound for Savannah The cnp
tain was a ouIet sort OF man with small
black eyes. each OF which looked as II il
was irving 10 keen what IL WINS doing from
The other The day before The bark
smiled IA LONG narrow box came an
hoard and the captain hnd il slowed
nway carefully in his stateroom The
hoy leaked ms thonoh II nI0ht ram
tain n coffin made Id nv mind hat
there vns IA bodv inside but as | wasn't
suparstitioua myself I didn't nav much nj
~tertion TO Tho matter nj the time The
crew looked IKE tough men They were
hard cases as a nile. but they seemed
willing ennugh ia do their wnrk-nu ex-
cent two These were n bio. brnwnv Irish
man we chilled Dublin Nike md "A wiry
spanish looking chm named Tony. Mix
md Tony were always telling the other
chnpl thar they were working too lard.
and were advising them To stand nm Tor,
their rights We hind n good run for nhout
three weeks. and Ind made the better mart
nl the voynge, when n heavy northcrly
pll. set In, There WAS a good denl Of iron
In the cargo. and TINT mnde the bnrk labor
badly. She strained 80 much TINT abe
sprang II bad leak. The pumps Ind to be
kent going nearly nil the time The yale
lasted several DAYS. and we drifted con
sidrrubly TO the southwnrd The men m,t
tired Of working so much at the pump..
and thcn ii leaked out about the ~strnnr..
looking box I'm The captains stateroom
No wonder wa hive bad Incl sai1
Dublin Mike with that stiff an hoard,
and the chnp began to work ON the super
stitious feeling Of the men by telling them
that no ship with a dead body ON bonrd
was ever known to get through IA VOYAGE
without trouble
'.Thnt uirht nj four bells i'm the dog
witch, all hands laid aft and asked TO see
the captain Tho skipper came ont Of the
cabin locking sort Of scared and naked IN.
men what they wanted Mike. win WINS
spokesman. said that they couldn't stand
1t nuy longer with a dead body ON board.
The body had got to 90 overheard. or else
The ship would 20 down. The skipper
said thai the idea That IA dead body coull
bring any hnrm to n ship was all nonsense.
and he told the men TO 20 forward. Then
Tony cried out to the men to follow him
and made n flash toward the cabin door.
" stop, men. cried the captain. there
amt any body in that box
TONY aud the rest stopped.
" That box, the captain went ON To
say. 'hns only got some silk in it TINT |
want TO get through without duty. Per
laps there's some diamonds in with the
silks, and perhaps there's more diamonds
than there Is silks. I'm going to put into
bermuda for repairs. We're within two
days sail Of Bermuda now
but. said Tony, If we help You To
save the diamonds and silk you ought to
divide with Us when we get to savannah
And so | WILL said the skipper
Mike sworc that the captain ought TO
open the box and show the men that there
was really no body In it. Tony seized
Mix 10y the nrm and whispered something
to him in nm angry tone. Mike then STAN
mcrcd and said that he would take the
captains word for II, and all went for
ward quietly
Tho wind was fair during the next
twenty four hours. and the next night
when | turned In | understood TINT the
chances were that we would reach Ber-
muda some time In the morning. The
watch on deck had been keeping the pumps
going nearly all the time. and | could hear
them clicking Us | fell asleep slept in "A
little stateroom right aft Of the forccastlc
There was u little mir hole In the bulkhend
between my room and the forccastle
had frequently heard whit was going ON
In the forecastle. but had never paid much
attention TO IL. That night | woke IN
feeling Kind of uncomfortable. I.hearl
voices in the forecastlo. fancied that
the watches had Just been changed and |